WASHINGTON (CNN) -- The White House released the text Monday of a controversial back-to-school speech to students from President Obama.

The uproar over President Obama's back-to-school speech led the White House to release the transcript Monday.

Many conservatives have expressed a fear that the address would be used to push a partisan political agenda. In the text of the speech, however, Obama avoids any mention of controversial political initiatives. He repeatedly urges students to work hard and stay in school.

"No matter what you want to do with your life, I guarantee that you'll need an education to do it," he says.

"This isn't just important for your own life and your own future. What you make of your education will decide nothing less than the future of this country."

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"I believe this is the greatest country on Earth, and I try to teach that to my children. ... I don't want them hearing that there's a fundamental flaw with the country and the kids need to go forward to fix it."

Hogsett, who spoke Monday shortly before Obama's remarks were released, said he wanted to read the speech before making a final judgment.

Amy Veasley, another parent from the Dallas area, said she was surprised by the controversy.

"The president of our country wants to call our students to action. I'm not sure why parents wouldn't want their students to hear out the leader of our country," she said.

A Baltimore, Maryland, teacher who asked not to be identified bemoaned the fact that the country has "become so polarized that we believe that our president is an enemy and not our leader."

During Bush's presidency, she said, "whether I disagreed or not, I still saw him as a leader."

On Sunday, Secretary of Education Arne Duncan said that parents who are threatening to keep their children home Tuesday to avoid Obama's speech were being "silly."

Appearing on the CBS program "Face the Nation," Duncan emphasized that it is up to school officials whether to include the speech in the day's activities and that the message of the speech is simply to encourage children to finish school.

"That's just silly," he said of anyone planning to have their kids stay home because of the speech. "They can go to school. They can not watch."

The speech is about "the president challenging young people," Duncan asserted.

"There [are] also concerns about is this going to be done in an appropriate manner. I trust and hope that the White House will have a content that is not political and they're not using the public school infrastructure for that purpose."

In November 1988, President Reagan delivered more politically charged remarks that were made available to students nationwide. Among other things, Reagan called taxes "such a penalty on people that there's no incentive for them to prosper ... because they have to give so much to the government." Read text of Reagan's speech to students (pdf)

Some of the controversy over Obama's speech involved a proposed lesson plan created by the Education Department to accompany the address. An initial version of the plan recommended that students draft letters to themselves discussing "what they can do to help the president."

The letters "would be collected and redistributed at an appropriate later date by the teacher to make students accountable to their goals," the plan stated.

After pressure from conservatives, the White House distributed a revised version encouraging students to write letters about how they can "achieve their short-term and long-term education goals."

Duncan said Sunday that the passage was poorly worded.

Former House Speaker Newt Gingrich told "Fox News Sunday" that Obama's speech is a good idea if the message is a positive one about completing school.

"It is good to have the president of the United States say to young people across America, 'Stay in school, study, and do your homework,' " Gingrich said.

Florida Republican Party Chairman Jim Greer last week accused Obama of trying to "indoctrinate America's children to his socialist agenda."

"Now that the White House got their hand in the cookie jar caught, they changed everything," he said Monday.

After reading the text, he said, "My kids will be watching the president's speech, as I hope all kids will."